Ayutthaya was founded in 1350, and was the second capital city of Siam after Sukhothai. Sadly it was destroyed by invading Burmese armies in the 18th century. Happily, you can visit on an amazing Ayutthaya Day Tour by Bus and Boat.
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History Lesson
The city of Ayutthaya was a bustling metropolis from the 14th to 18th centuries. Alas it was invaded by the Burmese Army in 1767 and burnt to the ground. The entire city’s inhabitants were forced to abandon the city, and it was never rebuilt. Today it is an important archeological area and a UNESCO World Hertigate site covering 289 hectares.
By the way, in case you’re wondering how to say Ayutthaya, it’s pronounced Ah-you-tea-ah.
Take a Day Tour from Bankgok to Ayutthaya
We booked a day tour on our favourite booking platform Getyourguide.com. The Tour is called From Bangkok: Ayutthaya Day Tour by Bus and Boat, and the cost was US $57 per person. The duration of the tour is 9 hours and it includes transfers to and from your hotel. Not only that it includes a sumptuous 3 course lunch on board the cruise boat.
Pick up time is about 6:30 am from your hotel by a mini-bus. Next the mini-bus takes you to a bus terminal at River City Bangkok, where you’re transferred to a coach to drive to Ayutthaya. We arrived back at our hotel at around 4:30 pm.
Itinerary
- Visit Bang Pa-In Summer Palace, the famous summer palace of the Thai royals, about an hour north of Bangkok.
- Explore the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ayutthaya, including monasteries, temples and palaces.
- See Wat Mahatat, a famous site where a Budda head is entangled in the roots of a large tree.
- Visit What Phanan Cheong, a magnificent 14th century temple still in use.
- Visit a giant outdoor reclining Buddha measuring 42m in length.
- Cruise along the river from Ayutthaya back to Bangkok, including a sumptuous all-you-can-eat lunch.
Main Attractions
Bang Pa-In Summer Palace
First stop was about an hour into the trip, Bang Pa-In Summer Palace. Even though this place was inhabited by Thai kings since about 1632, the current complex was built between 1872 and 1889. We stopped here for just over one hour, where you can either join the free guided tour, or go and explore the grounds on your own. We went off on our own.
When we arrived we discovered that there is a law that nobody can enter without having long trousers. Luckily you can purchase some light cotton trousers in the souvenir shop for 100 baht, or around $3. Actually they make a nice souvenir to take home.
Another thing worth purchasing is a golf buggy to explore the expansive grounds. They seat 4 people, so it’s worth teaming up with fellow tourists, if you want to avoid dripping bucket loads of sweat. Cost is 400 baht to hire the cart, so if you split this 4 ways it’s about $2 each.
Ayutthaya
Next stop is about a half hour up the road, the main attraction of Ayutthaya. Here we followed the tour operator for about an hour through the ruins of this ancient city. You can go nuts with amazing photo opportunities and scramble around some of the ancient ruins.
Along this tour you get to stop at possibly the most famous attraction at Ayutthaya, the famous head of the Buddha entangled in a web of tree roots.
Wat Phanan Cheoeng
No Thailand tour is complete without a visit to a functioning Buddhist temple. On this tour it was the What Phanan Cheong, about a 10 minute drive from the reclining Buddha. This is a special temple, being the oldest in Ayutthaya built in 1324. It even houses an incredible golden seated Buddha dating back to 1334.
I would have said this temple is only 100-200 years old, it is kept in remarkably good condition. After about 20 minutes adoring this magnificent temple, it’s back on the tour bus for the final stop.
Reclining Buddha
Back onto the bus, the next stop is only a 10 minute drive to the huge reclining Buddha. You get to spend about half an hour here, there’s really nothing to see except the reclining Buddha itself. The drive in is fascinating, past a huge complex of canals and ruined temples.
Alongside the reclining Buddha is a small cluster of souvenir shops, with a reasonable collection at very cheap prices. This is the best place to purchase your Ayutthaya souvenirs for the day.
Boat Tour
At around 1pm we boarded the White Orchid River Cruise at Wat Chong Lom Pier. The first order of the day was a magnificent buffet lunch. The range of food is both eastern and western and the quality is outstanding. There you can have desserts and coffee as well, all on the lower deck in a spacious air conditioned dining room. The lunch alone is worth at least $20 in my opinion, making this $57 tour remarkably good value.
After lunch it’s time to head to the top deck to enjoy the breeze and the scenery along the river. Then over the next couple of yours you get to see countless temples and statues for some great photo opportunities. Finally towards the end of the tour you are into the metropolis of Bangkok and quaint temples start to give way to sky scrapers and apartment blocks.
At the End of the Day
In time the tour concludes much the same way as is started, by transferring from the boat to your private minivan for the airport transfer. The process is rather chaotic, with the tour operators somehow organising people onto their different minivans, with hordes of people from other boats adding to the confusion. But we were quickly taken back to our minivan and taken back to our hotel with little fuss.
Value for Money
In the first place Ayutthaya has been on my bucket list for many years, it is a fascinating UNESCO World Heritage site with such a dramatic history. It was well worth the visit, albeit quite a short visit. As is the case with most tours, you spend a full day of touring just to spend about an hour at the main attraction.
The good thing about this tour was the amazing quality of other attractions. Together with the beautiful temples, palaces, and the Boat Cruise to Bangkok, which all made the tour outstanding value for money.
The booking process and all the transfers were seamless with this GetYourGuide tour, and we enjoyed the tour immensely. The weather was incredibly hot and humid, however an beautiful air conditioned bus was never far away, such that we did not get overly hot or tired all day.
Overall this was not at all a strenuous tour, with no hills and nothing more than a short walk along flat ground and good paths. We rate this tour 9 out of 10, and thoroughly recommend it for it’s historical significance. And also the relaxing cruise along the river.
Get Your Guide Tours
We love Getyourguide tours and use them whenever possible. Indeed we’ve been on quite a few now and have never had a dud tour. For example here are some of the things we like about this platform.
- Competitive prices – we have never paid more than what you would see in reputable travel agencies, and sometimes we pay a bit less.
- Quality – you can see if the tour is a quality tour by reading the reviews.
- Companion App – there is a companion app on smartphones, so you can see all the different tours as well as details of any bookings you might have. You can quickly book a new tour also.
- Last minute bookings – we have made several last minute bookings, by booking a tour the night before. No problem with Getyourguide.
- Worldwide Tours – it’s possible (and quick) to book a tour virtually anywhere in the world. Great for planning ahead for your upcoming holiday.
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